Geoffrey Parker Why The Armada Failed Analysis

loss of men and ammunition (Geoffrey Parker, Why the Armada Failed). When the fleet finally returned to Lisbon it brought the treasure ships back intact but it was clear that the Armada was no longer ready to mount the full scale invasion of England. Drake had given England another year to prepare for the Spanish Armada. Philip II now realized that there was no chance of a surprise attack on England and had to devise a new strategy. He increased the size of the Armada by adding the treasure ships Santa Cruz had just shepherded home and decided to drop the diversionary invasion of Ireland (Geoffrey Parker, Why the Armada Failed). Instead he decided to combine the strike force in Lisbon and the convoy in Calais into a single unwieldy. but overwhelmingly powerful unit
His decision to make Duke of Medina Sidonia in charge of the fleet was very questionable especially since he had never been to sea before. Philip II had ideas about how the English would attack from distance and he warned Santa Cruz and then the Duke of Medina Sidonia that the English would use this strategy (Geoffrey Parker, Why the Armada Failed). Instead of devising a strategy that would help the Armada avoid these pitfalls, he chose a strategy that made the fleet a sitting target to precisely the kind of tactics he worried about (Geoffrey Parker, Why the Armada Failed). Philip II also did not meet with his senior commanders to hear their opinions on the plans that were about to doom the Armada. (Geoffrey Parker, Why the Armada Failed). Philip II had made every decision on his own and ultimately the defeat of the armada was his fault. The defeat of the Spanish Armada was a crushing blow to Philip II and his mission to create a Spanish Hegemony. The Spanish ships were not well enough equipped to be able to defeat the far superior English naval forces. The ships that the English damaged but couldn’t defeat were taken care of by the storms that the Armada encountered throughout their